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Edward Abbey

Edward Abbey Quotes

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Famous Edward Abbey Quotes

“John Updike: our greatest suburban chic-boutique man of letters. A smug and fatal complacency has stunted his growth beyond hope of surgical repair. Not enough passion in his collected works to generate steam in a beer can. Nevertheless, he is considered by some critics to be America's finest *living* author: Hold a chilled mirror to his lips and you will see, presently, a fine and dewy moisture condensing -- like a faery breath! -- upon the glass.”

MenEnoughAmericaPassionGrowthFineLettersBreathsMirrorsCriticsLipsGlassesBeerNeverthelessFinestComplacencySteamChicMoistureChilled
Book:A Voice Crying in the Wilderness
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“If a man’s imagination were not so weak, so easily tired, if his capacity for wonder not so limited, he would abandon forever such fantasies of the supernal. He would learn to perceive in water, leaves and silence more than sufficient of the absolute and marvelous, more than enough to console him for the loss of the ancient dream.”

IfsMenEnoughDreamWaterImaginationLossSilenceWonderFantasyForeverCapacityWeakAbsolutesTiredAncientPerceiveSufficientAbandonMarvelousConsole
Book:Desert Solitaire
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“The real work of men was hunting meat. The invention of agriculture was a giant step in the wrong direction, leading to serfdom, cities, and empire. From a race of hunters, artists, warriors, and tamers of horses, we degraded ourselves to what we are now: clerks, functionaries, laborers, entertainers, processors of information.”

MenRealArtistRaceCitiesStepsInformationHorseInventionWarriorMeatGiantsEmpiresHuntingAgricultureHuntersEntertainersClerksLaborersWrong DirectionReal WorkProcessors
Author:Edward Abbey
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“We need wilderness because we are wild animals. Everyone needs a place where he can go to go crazy in peace. For the terror, freedom, and delirium. Because we need brutality and raw adventure, because men and women first learned to love in, under, and all around trees, because we need for every pair of feet and legs about ten leagues of naked nature, crags to leap from, mountains to measure by, deserts to finally die in when the heart fails.”

MenNeedsFirstsHeartDiesAnimalFailingTreeFeetCrazyAdventureTenMountainMen And WomenTerrorLegsNakedDesertLeaguePairsWildernessLeapBrutalityWild AnimalDelirium
Author:Edward Abbey
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“All men are brothers, we like to say, half-wishing sometimes in secret it were not true. But perhaps it is true. And is the evolutionary line from protozoan to Spinoza any less certain? That also may be true. We are obliged, therefore, to spread the news, painful and bitter though it may be for some to hear, that all living things on earth are kindred.”

MenMaySometimesEarthCertainWishLinesSecretHalfBrotherNewsPainfulSpreadBitterBeing TrueObligedLiving ThingsKindredSpinoza
Book:The Serpents of Paradise: A Reader
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